I had Friday off, so I got permission from the wife to go on a fishing trip Thurs - Fri evening.
Thursday (5:30pm - 10pm), Oceanic Fishing Pier: I wanted to avoid traffic and got to OC around 5pm. I decided to go to the pier, because there was a lot of boat traffic and bridge doesn't produce as much when that's the case (but there are always exceptions). Anyway, same old story. I went and skunked. Horseshoe crab caught by a couple of people, if that counts as catching.
Thursday (10:30pm - 6:00am), Rt. 50 Bridge: I stuck around about 8 hours to fish both outgoing tide and incoming tide. There were many fish being caught... Just not by me. On the outgoing tide, I saw two keeper stripers being landed and many undersized (but still decent size) stripers being caught and released. I caught an eel and several crabs with my hook. I couldn't position myself closer to the area where the fish were running and I think that was part of my problem. On the incoming tide, there were shad, blues, and stripers. Again, a lot of fish were being caught, just not by me. I had a small 7-8" snapper bluefish and a couple of shad. What impressed me was a high school kid who was using a short & light bass rod with a spec rig on mono line who was catching decent size blues one after another. I kept snagging and losing got-cha plugs (1oz - 3oz). I lost 8 in total, which is probably close to $55-65 in value. On my last trip, I only lost one got-cha plug due to a broken hook on a fish. I didn't have snags like I did on this trip. It wasn't just me - other anglers were getting snagged too. I don't know what happened between my last trip and this trip, but the snagging was unreal. I even snagged and lost a 1/4 oz spec rig while there was fairly strong current. On a side note, it was the beginning of July 4th weekend and there were some ambulance activity. Heckling by drivers was worse this time too. A couple of things were thrown at the fishermen. I got hit with fries and I don't know what was thrown on the other side, but it sounded like metal of some sort. Hopefully after this weekend, things will tone down. I haven't been heckled by anyone walking by, but people in cars think it's somehow funny to heckle since they know we can't catch up to them. But you know that those same people will walk past you quietly on the bridge. Getting something thrown at while I had my back turned ticked me off, but I let it go... I mean what can I do, lol?
Friday, Bay Bee Headboat: I signed up for Bay Bee as insurance in case I didn't catch anything worthwhile on the bridge. After an uneventful night, I really needed to get on this headboat for a chance to redeem myself. But... The boat trip was cancelled for two reasons. 1: They needed 8 people, but only 5 had signed up. 2: T-storms. Even if it weren't for the weather, I think Bay Bee trip would have been cancelled due to not having enough people.
Friday (2pm - 5pm), Bill Burton Fishing Pier: Storm was on the way and wind was brutal. I stopped by to use up the bloodworms that I didn't want to waste. I caught two small white perches and 15 mins before I left, caught a 12" croaker.
Over all, it was a trip that I almost regret going on, but at the same time, I still would go if I had the choice.
![Fish Fish Bass Tilapia Ray-finned fish]()
Thursday (5:30pm - 10pm), Oceanic Fishing Pier: I wanted to avoid traffic and got to OC around 5pm. I decided to go to the pier, because there was a lot of boat traffic and bridge doesn't produce as much when that's the case (but there are always exceptions). Anyway, same old story. I went and skunked. Horseshoe crab caught by a couple of people, if that counts as catching.
Thursday (10:30pm - 6:00am), Rt. 50 Bridge: I stuck around about 8 hours to fish both outgoing tide and incoming tide. There were many fish being caught... Just not by me. On the outgoing tide, I saw two keeper stripers being landed and many undersized (but still decent size) stripers being caught and released. I caught an eel and several crabs with my hook. I couldn't position myself closer to the area where the fish were running and I think that was part of my problem. On the incoming tide, there were shad, blues, and stripers. Again, a lot of fish were being caught, just not by me. I had a small 7-8" snapper bluefish and a couple of shad. What impressed me was a high school kid who was using a short & light bass rod with a spec rig on mono line who was catching decent size blues one after another. I kept snagging and losing got-cha plugs (1oz - 3oz). I lost 8 in total, which is probably close to $55-65 in value. On my last trip, I only lost one got-cha plug due to a broken hook on a fish. I didn't have snags like I did on this trip. It wasn't just me - other anglers were getting snagged too. I don't know what happened between my last trip and this trip, but the snagging was unreal. I even snagged and lost a 1/4 oz spec rig while there was fairly strong current. On a side note, it was the beginning of July 4th weekend and there were some ambulance activity. Heckling by drivers was worse this time too. A couple of things were thrown at the fishermen. I got hit with fries and I don't know what was thrown on the other side, but it sounded like metal of some sort. Hopefully after this weekend, things will tone down. I haven't been heckled by anyone walking by, but people in cars think it's somehow funny to heckle since they know we can't catch up to them. But you know that those same people will walk past you quietly on the bridge. Getting something thrown at while I had my back turned ticked me off, but I let it go... I mean what can I do, lol?
Friday, Bay Bee Headboat: I signed up for Bay Bee as insurance in case I didn't catch anything worthwhile on the bridge. After an uneventful night, I really needed to get on this headboat for a chance to redeem myself. But... The boat trip was cancelled for two reasons. 1: They needed 8 people, but only 5 had signed up. 2: T-storms. Even if it weren't for the weather, I think Bay Bee trip would have been cancelled due to not having enough people.
Friday (2pm - 5pm), Bill Burton Fishing Pier: Storm was on the way and wind was brutal. I stopped by to use up the bloodworms that I didn't want to waste. I caught two small white perches and 15 mins before I left, caught a 12" croaker.
Over all, it was a trip that I almost regret going on, but at the same time, I still would go if I had the choice.
